WELSH FEATURE WRITING LAB
Do you have a unique idea for a contemporary Welsh feature film? Would you like support to write and pitch it?
The course: This free writing lab taught by Brynach Day will be held over a four-month period. The classes will be held online on Thursday evenings with one in-person Saturday session in either Wrexham or Swansea (depending on which is nearest to you). During the course you’ll learn about loglines, pitch decks, character design, dialogue, style, and three act structure. You’ll also get to present and be given feedback on your pitch deck materials as well as the first pages of your new feature film. Our guests will include successful writers and producers working in the UK and US.
No prior screenwriting experience is required; you just need to have a compelling idea and have the time to write it.
The brief: We're looking for first time feature writers who have film ideas that reflect the breadth of lived experiences in Wales today. We aren't interested in big epic stories about important historical events, or in familiar Welsh narratives (a Chat GTP search of contemporary stories will give you a list of these). Instead, we are interested in contained stories set within unexplored subcultures or settings. The benchmark for the types of stories we want to develop in this lab include The Ceremony, Limbo, Brides (2025), God's Own Country, Beats, and Human Traffic. We want personal stories inspired by the writer’s direct experiences as we believe that firsthand knowledge is the best way to create both specific and fresh Welsh stories.
The Tutor: Brynach’s first feature script was chosen as an American Zoetrope Top Ten Screenplay, and it received a Ffilm Cymru Horizons award. He’s developed scripts and TV shows with Gethin Scourfield (Hinterland), Sophie Francis (In my Skin), and Ohna Falby (The Beast in the Jungle). He has taught with UCLA Extension, The Met Film School, NFTS Cymru and now UWE in Bristol.
How to apply: You’ll need to answer a few short questions about your story idea, and you’ll be asked about the experience you have of the world your story is set in. You’ll also need to provide two writing samples. A 1-2 page scene from your film, and 500 word sample of your writing. This sample could be a scene from a short script, poems, flash fiction, spoken word, a short story, or an excerpt from a novel. The samples will need to be submitted in English.
The workshop is free thanks to the support of Ffilm Cymru.
The deadline to apply has now passed. The application deadline was 11.59 PM on Sunday, November 2nd.
You’ll be notified if you have been successful by November 7th. I can’t give feedback on unsuccessful applications. I’m happy to answer questions once you have been selected for the lab.
You must be:
· Living in Wales
· Be over 18
· Not be in full time education
Class dates, times & locations:
Online every Thursday from 7-10 PM from November 13th, 2025, to January 31st, 2026. There will be no class on December 25th and January 1st.
In person in Wrexham on February 7th for North Wales students, and in Swansea on February 14th for South Wales students.